Ceramic petal cutting means



Oct. 20, 1953 1-; GEN-[RY 2,655,709

CERAMIC FETAL CUTTING MEANS Filed Feb. 29, 1952 INVENTOR. flezfle 72 37ydag,

Patented Oct. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to perimetric cutters, that is, cutterscorresponding in shape to the perimeters of objects to be cut. Morespecifically, it relates to cutters for cutting artificial flower petalsfrom rolled-out ceramic dough or other plastic material, a number of thecut-outs being further shaped by hand and assembled to form anartificial fiower.

An object of the invention is to provide an exceptionally simple andinexpensive cutter which will provide the cut-out petal with anattaching lug at its inner end, whereby these lugs of the various petalsmay be secured together to hold the various petals assembled. When usinga ceramic, for instance, the mere pressing of the lugs together beforethe material sets will integrally secure the various lugs together.

Another object of the invention is to provide a set of the cutters ofdifferent sizes and to so construct said cutters that they may becompactly nested when not in use to reduce the likelihood of one cutteror another being misplaced.

A further object of the invention is to provide a nest of the cutters inwhich the various cutter are yieldably held in nested relation and maybe readily separated for individual use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a nest of cuttersin which the individual cutters are yieldably gripped by each other atone end and at their other ends are provided with interengaging detentsand sockets which yieldably hold them in nested relation.

With the above and other objects in view that will become apparent asthe nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists inthe novel form, combination and arrangement of part hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawing, and claimed.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one of the cutters,

Fig. 2 is an end view,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing a set of the cutters of differentsizes and in nested relation, and

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

A set of four cutters 5, 6, 1, and 8 has been shown. These cutters areduplicate except for size and a description of one will thereforesuffice. All of the reference numerals used in describing the cutterconstruction will be found on the cutter 5 and they will be duplicatedonly where advisable on the other cutters.

A simple strip of aluminum alloy or other somewhat springy material isused in forming each cutter. Substantially midway between its ends, thisstrip is bent to form an arouate end wall 9 of somewhat more than inlength. From the ends of this end wall 9, the two end portions of thestrip converge into closely spaced relation to provide major side wallportions l0. From the ends ll of these major side wall portions, the endportions of the strip are extended outwardly in closely spacedsubstantially parallel relation to form minor side wall portions l2.From the outer ends l3 of these minor side wall portions, the strip endportions are converged together at It. The two terminals of the stripare secured together by extending them outwardly in contact with eachother as shown at l5 and clinching one around the other at [6. Theformations l4, I5, and I6 provide a second and smaller end wall oppositethe end wall 9 and of substantially Y shape.

The central portion of the end wall 9 is outwardly deformed, providing arounded projection I! at the outer side of said wall and a shallowrounded socket It in the inner side of said wall.

When the cutters 5, 6, l, and 8 are nested as seen in Figs. 3 and 4,their arouate end Walls 9 contact yieldably with each other and thevarious projections 11 and sockets l8 interengage as seen in Fig. 4. TheY-shaped end wall M of the cutter 6 is yieldably received between theends H of the converging side wall portion ll] of the outer cutter 5.The side wall portions l2 of the outer cutter 5 yield outwardly as theend wall M of the cutter 0 is wedged into place and said portions 12 arethus tensioned to yieldably grip this end of said cutter 6. The shankportion [6 of the Y-shaped end wall I l of cutter 6 lies between thewall portions [2 of the cutter 5 and the Y-shaped end walls of these twocutters 5 and 6 are free from contact with each other. The cutter 0 andl are associated with each other in the same manner, and the same istrue of the cutters and 0.

The cutters are of such length that each one is tensioned somewhat bythe nesting operation. Thus frictional contact at the smaller ends ofthe cutters coacts with the detents and sockets at the larger ends tofirmly hold the cutters nested. During nesting, the springycharacteristic of the cutters causes the detents to snap into thesockets and while some force is required to separate the cutters foruse, this is not undesirable. On the contrary, it is advantageous toprevent accidental disconnection of the cutters.

Any selected cutter may be used by simply pressing one or the other ofits edges through rolled-out ceramic dough or similar material. Thematerial cut by the portions 9 and In is then hand-shaped to form anattractive petal, and the material cut by the portions I2 and I4 formsan attaching lug for said petal. By pressing these lugs of variouspetals firmly wgether before the dough hardens, said lugs becomeintegrally united and hold the petals in their proper relation toprovide an attractive artificial flower.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that novel and advantageousprovision has been made for attaining the desired ends, and while thereis herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention,it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asclaimed.

I claim:

1. A perimetrical cutter .for producing "ceramic blanks for simulatingof roses and the like, said cutters comprising a body of strip typeformed of springy metal of uniform width and thickness to provide acutter having its opposite edges of similar dimensions and contour topermit either edge to serve as the cutting edge, said strip having anintermediate portion of its length shaped into an arcuate curvature fora distance of at least a semi-circular length of 180, the curved shapingbeing continued from the ends of such intermediate length with thecurvature at a slower rate and approaching a position diametricallyopposite the mid-point of the intermediate curvature of the striplength, the positions being spaced apart the distance of the width ofthe petal stem of the blank, the end areas of the strip being connectedwith the ends of such curvature length by a first abrupt turn andcontinued in parallel relation for a distance to provide the length andwidth of the stem, and then continued with a second abrupt turn forcontinuation through an inclined length into a contact relation of shortlength and terminating in a secured end by one strip end extending inoverlapped .relation to the other end of the strip, the mid-length pointor the curvature length having a concave-convex member projectingoutwardly therefrom. the formed blank receiving its manual manipulationsat will and prior to subjecting the complete blank to the final ceramicregimen treatment.

2. A nested set of perimetrical cutters including at least two adjacentcutters each being constructed as defined in claim 1, said cuttersdiffering from each other in the contour length dimension of theperimeter of the blank-cutting interior of the cutter to provide asymmetrical relation between the two cutters and of the blanks producedtherefrom, the nesting relation of the two cutters presenting acontacting relation at the respective mid-length points in the curvatureareas of the two cutters with the remaining contact presented by thecontact of the second abrupt 4 turn of the smaller cutter with the firstabrupt turn of the larger cutter, the remaining contour portions of thetwo cutters being out of contact, the respective contact points placingthe two outters under slight tension with the contacts spaceddiametrically of the nested cutters, the end closure of the smallercutter being received within the blank stem-producing space of thelarger cutter and with the stem producing space of the smaller cutterlocated within the curved contour of the larger cutter, the differencesin the symmetrical perimetrical length dimensions being controlled bythe diiferences in length of the blank body and stem portions of theperimetric contour.

3. A nested set or perimetrical cutters for producing ceramic blanks,said set comprising tour cutters each being constructed as defined inclaim 1 with the cutters operative actively as individuals andpositioned in nested relationship to maintain i the integrity of the setand to protect the controlling cutting edges of the individual cutter,said set of cutters being operative to produce the blanks for simulatingthe individual petals of a. partly-open or full-blown rose or likepetalled flower, said cutters differing from each other in the lengthdimension of the contour perimeter of the cutting edge of the blankpetal body and its stem, the differences in such edge length dimensionbeing symmetrical to each other in the cutters of the set toindividually present the petal body and stem of petals forming apredetermined annular series of petals with the length dimensions ofsuccessive cutters of the set corresponding to the successive lengthdimensions of the individual petals of a predetermined series, therespective shapes of the cutters and their contour perimetric dimensionslimiting the contact of adjacent cutters of the nested set to a limitedarea in the mid-length of petal body contour and to a contact of thesecond abrupt turn of the smaller cutter with the first abrupt turn ofthe larger adjacent cutter with the remaining perimetric areas of theadjacent cutters free from contact to thereby limit the contacts todiametrically alined positions remotely spaced to permit slight tensioneffects therebetween, the cutters producing the blanks individually withall of the cutters individually active in producing the petal blanks forthe rose or other product, the assemblage of the blanks into the productbeing .by the uniting of the stems of the blanks after the individualmanual facial manipulation of the petal body of the blank and prior tothe final ceramic treatment of the assemblage.

REX E. GEN'IRY.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 226,702 Birch Apr. 20, 1880 2,119,260 Valle May 31, 19382,129,915 DuPont Sept. 13, 1938 2,214,475 Napolillo Sept. 10, 19402,365,461 Fairbanks Dec. 19, 1944

